Shades of Gray (22 page)

“With respect, Captain, I’ve got more training than anyone here,” began the medic.

“Not me,” he snapped. “You forget that it was Kaid who treated my wife here when she was shot on Jalna, and I have his memories and skills.”

There was a small silence. “M’kou is still in his armor, Captain, but if you’d prefer to do it yourself ...” Mrowbay let his sentence hang there.

Dammit! He shouldn’t be letting his anger affect the way he handled his team.

“My apologies to you both,” he muttered. “Mrowbay, please continue dressing my leg. M’kou, take your suit off and then accompany our people back to the
Venture
to collect their gear. I’d appreciate you getting my weapons. Banner knows where they are. Final briefing is in forty-five minutes.”

“Aye, Captain,” he said, straightening up.

As Mrowbay began to place a series of padded dressings around the wound area, Kusac kept an eye on the others, ignoring the slightly rough handling he was receiving. For him, it was merely a minor irritation, nothing more. His attention diverted by Banner’s return, when the medic pressed on the center of the wound at the back, he stiffened and let out a loud hiss of pain.

“Sorry, Captain, just wanted to be sure you still had sensation there,” said Mrowbay blandly, smiling up at him as he fastened off the encircling bandage. “Now would you walk across the room, please? I want to make sure it’s not binding anywhere.”

Clenching his teeth, he moved off, crossing the fifteen feet there and back with barely a discernible limp.

Mrowbay grasped his wrist, checking his pulse. “A little elevated, but acceptable,” he said quietly. “It’s obviously still paining you, Captain, but not enough for me to ground you, in the circumstances. I suggest you set your suit’s power for a slightly heavier gravity, let it do the work for you. I have some mild analgesics that don’t cross the brain-blood barrier I can give you as well. They last about twelve hours, so you should be good for the whole mission.”

Kusac nodded. After the pressure Mrowbay had put on it, it was aching pretty badly, albeit at a background low-level range. It was enough to drag him down, though, and impair his reflexes in the long run.

Stripping off his treatment gloves and putting them on the tray, Mrowbay got to his feet. “Captain Tirak asked me to remind you to join him in his office when we were done. I can send the meds there for you.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant,” he said, his mind suddenly elsewhere. Something aboard the
Profit
felt . . . off . . . not quite right, but he was damned if he could tell what it was.

Reaching out, he probed every corner of the ship, finding nothing. But his headache was now gone. Still vaguely uneasy, he followed his crew out as they left for the
Venture
then headed for Tirak’s office.

On the
N’zishok
, Giyarishis sat back on his cushions, exhausted. He’d only just managed to warn Annuur to withdraw from the Unity net and close it down before the Hunter had traced him or it. This was unprecedented. The Camarilla purposely operated on a frequency no known telepathic species, save the Cabbarans, could use, let alone sense. When he recovered from the shock, he must contact Kuvaa.

“You’re not coming on the
Soohibo
, and that’s final,” said Kaid, his face taking on the closed look Carrie had come to know so well. “Before this goes any further, I know all the arguments you’re going to use. No, you’re not a child; yes, I can give you orders as Leader of this mission; yes, you are different from T’Chebbi because what happens to you, happens to me—I can’t be torn between running the mission and your safety during it. Yes, I know you want to see Kusac as soon as possible and that you were the only one to believe in him, but you’ll have to wait a few more days until we’ve retaken the City. And last, and most important, there isn’t a battle suit that you can safely wear because none of them fit you.”

“Getting to be a regular know-it-all, aren’t you?” she said, a growl of anger underscoring her words. “Psi suppressants make you cranky, you know.”

“Jo and Kitra aren’t going for the same reasons,” he said, ignoring her gibe and softening his tone.

“I only want to go to the Orbital. The fighting will be over by then, so I won’t be in any danger. You forgot that argument.”

He sighed, ears tilting backward. “So I did, but it changes nothing. There still isn’t any armor for you.”

“You’re saying if I had armor ...” she began.

“I won’t let you trap me verbally, Carrie,” he warned.

“Do I lack the training or knowledge of anyone else you’re taking? Because most of your arguments are personal, not objective.”

“You have my and Kusac’s knowledge, plus enough training, despite the lack of experience, to use it,” he agreed reluctantly. “But you’re more vulnerable ...”

“In what way? The armor’s powered, so I’ll be as strong as any female Sholan in it.”

“There is no armor for you,” he repeated, exasperated. “This whole venture could be some kind of trap. We help Kezule and suddenly find ourselves his prisoners.”

“Then right there, in a little over five days, you and I are dead—unless I’m with you. Same goes for Rezac and Jo, and Dzaka and Kitra. All of us with a Leska partner are at risk. You take all that into account too, Tallinu?”

It was Kaid’s turn to growl in frustration, but he was spared having to answer right then as the door opened and Rezac came in.

“I drew the short straw, so first off, don’t bite the messenger,” he said, mouth widening slightly in a half grin. “If you two are going to keep arguing until it’s time to leave, you better go to your quarters because at least they’re shielded—you’re both broadcasting your annoyance with each other over the whole ship. Technically, neither of you should be going on a mission halfway through your Link day.”

“I can cope,” Kaid snarled.

“We can’t,” said Rezac. “You won’t want my advice, but here it is anyway. Jo and Carrie are right. Apart from their lack of armor, you have no good, objective reason not to take them.”

“You’re right, I don’t want it!”

“People like us can’t live our lives always taking the safe option, Kaid. If we do, we’re as good as dead,” Rezac said. “That goes for Jo and Carrie too. If we want to protect them, we can’t put ourselves in danger.”

“Didn’t you hear me? There are no suits for them!”

“Yes there are. Toueesut had them made for all three of them—Jo, Carrie, and Kitra.”

Carrie watched Kaid’s ears vanish into his hair and tried hard to suppress her pleasure at Rezac’s news. So Toueesut had managed to finish them in time.

“Tallinu,” she said, leaning forward to touch his hands where they lay clenched together on the table. “Kusac told you back on the
Khalossa
that we didn’t intend to hide from danger any longer. That was a joint decision. Now we’re Leskas, I expect us both to take such decisions together, not you to impose yours on me. You don’t have the moral right. If Jo, Kitra, and I shouldn’t go, then neither should you and Rezac or Dzaka.”

“The Touibans are picking you up too,” added Rezac. “They’re having some difficulty understanding your double standards, and frankly, so am I.”

Kaid stared at him for a moment. “Don’t you want Jo kept safe?”

Rezac shrugged and came over to join them at the table. “Yes, and no. She’s a warrior, like me. If I stop her being what she is at heart, then it’ll kill her just as quickly as a shot from a gun, an aircar accident, or choking on a nut will. Don’t forget the problems I had with Zashou,” he added, his eyes clouding over briefly. “She was a pacifist and wanted to stay safe, hated everything I was and am. We can’t have it both ways, Kaid. We don’t need a mate who’s our equal whom we protect to the point where we destroy her and our relationship.”

“You’re right,” said Kaid abruptly, his hands relaxing under Carrie’s. “You and Jo can come,” he said to her. “But Kitra stays. She’s still only fifteen.”

“Then sweeten it by taking her on the
Soohibo
and giving her a real task to perform for the mission,” said Rezac. “She’s on hand then if anything happens to Dzaka. To be honest, I think they’ll both be relieved she’s not in the front line, so long as neither of them think she’s being treated like a kitling.”

“I’ll leave you to find something for her to do, in that case,” said Kaid dryly, “since you’re so full of good advice today.”

“No problem,” grinned Rezac as he got to his feet. “When we board the
Soohibo
, why don’t you and Carrie stay in your quarters until nearer the rendezvous time? Garras can take charge till then.”

“Good idea,” said Carrie, before Kaid could refuse. “It’ll give everyone else some peace at least.”

“Depends,” growled Kaid, one hand clasping hers tightly and shaking it. “You, Dzinae, and Jo, not to mention Kitra, have to go through some battle-suit drill before then!”

“Fair enough, but remember, all three of us have your knowledge of the drill,” she grinned.

“Nothing replaces experience. Where are the suits now, Rezac?” Kaid asked, turning to look over his shoulder at his father.

“Along with the rest of ours, in the Battle Dress room we’re using on the
Soohibo
. Everything we need has been loaded now,” he added. “They’ll be ready for us to embark in about ten minutes or so.”

It looks like a child’s gyroscope
, he thought, plucking the word from Carrie’s embedded memories as he watched the Orbital through the main viewscreen.

Built around a vertical spindle, the central levels spread out in disks around it, the widest being the commercial docking ring. The blue shimmer of a force field shone in four bands reaching from top to bottom of the Orbital—bands that could become a solid sphere of protection if necessary.

Right now, the only ships berthed there were the giant
Kz’adul
and several smaller cargo shuttles.

“They may have repaired the clamshell doors at the front, but I see they haven’t gotten rid of the blast marks we left on the outside,” remarked Tirak, turning to him with a grin.

They were mere spectators on the Bridge right now, leaving the two other crewmembers to the task of controlling the ship.

“
Profit
to Orbital, requesting docking permission,” said Mrowan, the current Captain.

“Granted,
Profit
,” said the Prime controller. “You’ve been assigned Bay 3, next to the
Kz’adul
. The Orbital is currently operating under military law. A copy of our rules and regulations will be sent to you before you’ll be allowed to debark. It is advised you read them carefully. Ignorance of them will not be accepted as a defense for breaking them.”

“Copy that, Orbital. Can you update me on what’s new since my last trip?” asked Mrowan.

“Your ship must be powered down completely except for prior to takeoff; no hand weapons can be carried, and don’t even look at the armed guards on the main concourse,” recited the official. “There’s more of the same in the rules.”